What Is Patti Smith’s New Memoir About? 'M Train' Tells A Whole New Story

Before it comes out in October, you might want to make sure you know the answer to this question: what is Patti Smith’s new memoir about? Her last memoir, Just Kids, moved us all in 2010 — and it seemed so beautifully raw and open that it’s hard to believe Smith has even more to reveal. But M Train and Just Kids are very different memoirs, and M Train tells a whole new story: the story of her musical creativity.

Patti Smith was such an influential part of the punk rock movement that it’s easy to forget she had influences of her own. Her new memoir M Train follows the journey that led her to create her most iconic work. The “train” in this memoir stops at 18 “stations,” each representing one of the most significant turning points in Smith’s life, that she believes were responsible for shaping her creative identity. These intimate and personal stopping points are perfectly illustrated with black-and-white self-portraits.

The memoir isn’t strictly autobiographical; it shifts between reality and dreams — and yet these dreams are almost more revealing than the more factual sections, as they offer a glimpse into this great artist's inner mind. In Just Kids, Smith told us just how much music means to her; in M Train, she actually shows us. And that’s what makes M Train totally unmissable.